Thursday, March 26, 2009

Fitness Friday.......

You are probably wondering what all this has to do with fitness. Before I get started however, I want to let those of you who emailed me hoping to squeeze into the contest a little late know that you are all entered! Everyone is listed in my side bar. :)

Ok......so let me tell you.........

As I was weighing in this morning on wii fit, I got to thinking. (always dangerous) During the summer I always do Friday's flowers and given that we are all looking foward to summer, I thought I would do a Friday spring something to tide us over until summer.

From now until the first day of summer I am going to do Fitness Friday and then I will gently roll into Friday's Flowers. For me, Fitness Friday will be a day to share with you the ups and downs of my fitness plan, along with any helpful tips and recipes I have found along the way. It will give anyone a chance who wants to join along the opportunity to share what is working for you and what is not. Kind of a support group for our Spring into Summer contest. :) I am posting this today on Thursday to give you all a chance to join along with me tomorrow. :) (snag the button if you want.)

I will be honest with you, last week was not a great week for me in terms of Springing into Summer. There were a few stressful things going on that kept me distracted enough not to really pay attention to what I was eating and there was NO exercising. For me, knowing that I will share a part of my week on Fridays will definitely motivate me to pay attention.

Today for the first time in a very long time, I hopped on the treadmill. Yep, I moved all of the clothes that were hanging off of it, dusted it off, grabbed my book, my ipod and my favorite Sigg bottle that a wonderful friend gifted to me and got moving.

You see....I REALLY want to have a nice vegetable garden this summer......and.......I need to be strong enough to work hard in the garden instead of feeling like I may keel over and have a heart attack if I work too hard in the summer heat. So, while my garden is still covered in snow, I am going to take the time to learn more about Lasagna Gardening as I work on my treadmill.

My commitment for this very first Friday's Fitness is 5 days a week of exercise. At least 3 days on the treadmill and 2 days of strength training. I am a pretty busy lady, so making this commitment means that I will have to do a little less of something else. This one is a no brainer...but not so easy. I am going to limit my online computer time to coffee time in the morning and a little catch up time in the evening. It will get me up out of my computer chair and on my feet, which is all good, right?and now....a little fiber........Isn't she lovely? Maplewing is growing and will now start to move a lot faster. I finished all of the first section and am now down to just a little over 300 stitches per row and will continue to decrease. Starting a shawl from the bottom up feels SO slow at the beginning, but moves along fast towards the end...yay! I really love working on this pattern. It is so intuitive, which makes fixing errors so easy. :)

Olivia is now on the needles and is what I pick up to work on after doing a few long rows of Maplewing. I will be glad when I am beyond the double moss stitch though. Not because I mind doing it, but it is so hard to figure out where I left off if I forgot to write it down. This is my first time working with Rowan Felted Tweed.....such wonderful stuff!!!

There's been some spinning going on as well. I find that at the end of the night, spinning with a cup of tea or a glass of wine is the perfect way to close the day. My spinning wheels have been neglected over the winter, so I have made sure lately to include just a little bit of spinning at the end of each day and it is paying off. I am almost finished with the second bobbin of this beautiful Foxfire Cashmere/Silk blend. Isn't scrumptious? Barb certainly has some of the nicest luxury fibers, doesn't she?

I have also been trying to make sure that the new little Van Eaton miss gets her fair share of time spent, so I do a little work on her each morning before I hop on the wii fitt. Bobbin #1 has 2 ounces of Pumpkin Patch BFL on it and I will start the second 2 ounces tomorrow.

Comments

Was pleasantly surprised to see you have the book Lasagna Gardening. I live near Pat, the author. She used to have a great shop in an old church near me called The Pottager. Besides having the book Pat has given me many great gardening ideas for my sloping yard. Haven't seen her in a long time but she is quite an interesting lady.

Love the fibers. I am spinning some Icelandic wool now. Haven't decided if I am going to leave it natural (taupe) or overdye it. I read the Lasagna Gardening book this winter and I plan on incorporating some of the ideas in my garden this year. I am trying to take a walk with the dogs everyday now that the weather is turning nicer. Always feel better after a walk outside.

Lovely knitting and handspuns! I adore the cool colors which look so good on me but sometimes I wish I could wear these gorgeous golds and rusts. Alas, they're not for me.

I applaud your new fitness resolution and although I have no blog, am right in there with you, having just resumed exercise at Curves a week ago Monday. I feel better and stronger already and you will soon, too! Something about pushing our bodies to not just sit... Enjoy it!

Whoops! I forgot to sign up but I'm with you in spirit. Knowing I won't be able to get through my yard work without getting in better shape is part of my motivation also!!
My goal is 3x treadmill and 2x strength training/flexibility too....and it does mean giving something else up, which is why I'm so bad about doing it. Maybe I can follow your lead and cut back more on the computer and not so much on my knitting time!!